Houston photographer brings back old-timey tintype portraits

Meet Laura Burlton of Houston Tintype Studio

HOUSTON – Ditch your camera phones and leave your laptops behind, the 1850's are making a comeback! 

Sort of...tintype photography, the old-timey photo technique where an image is printed on thin slates of metal, is seeing a resurgence in popularity. 

Houston photographer Laura Burlton is a local tintype photographer that creates beautifully executed portraits using a mix of cameras and lenses from the 1850's to 1950's. 

Burlton makes the chemicals she uses to develop her pictures by hand, which include a mix of ether, collodion, bromide, silver nitrate and more.

A traditional chemical they used back in the 1850's was cyanide, but Burlton prefers a less lethal set of chemicals for the same job today. 

 

An example of one of Laura Burlton's tintype photographs. 

 

Watch Houston Life correspondent Lauren Kelly get her tintype portrait made in the video above. 

You can also check out Laura Burlton's website here and Instagram here. 

 

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